New York -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The conviction of a former New York police officer for conspiring to kidnap , torture , cook and eat women has been overturned by a federal judge , who ruled that the evidence against him amounted to `` fantasy role-play . ''

Gilberto Valle , who has already served 21 months in jail and faced life in prison on the kidnap conspiracy conviction , did not say a word when he appeared in a federal courtroom Tuesday . He smiled and waved at relatives in court . One woman , in tears , said before the hearing , `` He 's coming home today . ''

Prosecutors said they will appeal the decision , and bail for Valle was set at $ 100,000 . He could be released as early as Tuesday .

Defense attorney Julia Gatto said the decision backed up her assertion that Valle is `` guilty of nothing more than very unconventional thoughts ... We do n't put people in jail for their thoughts . We are not the thought police and the court system is not the deputy of the thought police . ''

`` Gil Valle has been in jail for almost 21 months , seven months of that were in the indescribable hell that is solitary confinement , all for a crime that he did n't commit , '' she said .

Valle was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation , and to surrender travel documents and weapons . U.S. District Court Judge Paul Gardephe also ordered GPS home monitoring for the defendant .

`` The evidentiary record is such that it is more likely than not the case that all of Valle 's Internet communications about kidnapping are fantasy role-play , '' Gardephe said in the 118-page opinion released Monday night .

Valle 's lawyers argued at his trial last year that the former police officer 's e-mails and online postings were just that -- `` fantasy role-play '' and `` dark improv theater . '' But prosecutors said he was `` deadly serious . ''

In his decision , Gardephe ruled that `` once the lies and the fantastical elements are stripped away , what is left are deeply disturbing misogynistic chats and emails written by an individual obsessed with imagining women he knows suffering horrific sex-related pain , terror and degradation . ''

`` Despite the highly disturbing nature of Valle 's deviant and depraved sexual interests , his chats and emails about these interests are not sufficient -- standing alone -- to make out the elements of conspiracy to commit kidnapping , '' he added .

The trial evidence provided by prosecutors was not `` sufficient to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Valle entered into a genuine agreement to kidnap a woman , or that he specifically intended to commit a kidnapping . ''

Valle also was found guilty of illegally accessing a federal law enforcement database .

The database , which Valle was trained to use and had access to as a police officer , helped him research potential victims , prosecutors said .

No one was kidnapped , but the jury did see what prosecutors said were detailed plans to carry out a plot .

Valle , a six-year NYPD veteran , was convicted after prosecutors presented evidence such as a document found on his wife 's laptop titled `` Abducting and Cooking Kimberly -- A Blueprint . '' The same document listed `` materials needed , '' which included a gag , rope , chloroform and a tarp for the trunk . The FBI never found any of these items in Valle 's possession .

According to trial evidence , he communicated online with three co-conspirators on the Dark Fetish Network , prosecutors said .

At trial , Gatto called Valle 's conduct `` pure fiction '' and `` make-believe . ''

`` He is anxious to get home to his family , the people who supported him through this whole ordeal , '' she said of her client on Tuesday . `` I am sure he is very relieved , very tired . Prison has been hard ... He has to pick up the pieces of his life . ''

CNN 's Haimy Assefa and Julia Talanova contributed to this report .

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Conviction of former police officer in cannibal cop case is overturned

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Gilberto Valle has already served 21 months in jail and faced life in prison

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Valle faced life in prison on a kidnap conspiracy conviction

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Judge wrote that Valle 's Internet communications were likely `` fantasy role-play ''